1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadcasting apparatus, a vehicle for acquiring information distributed by a broadcast from the broadcasting apparatus, an information delivery system including the broadcasting apparatus and the vehicle, and a method of outputting related information therefore.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, increased attention has been drawn to remote maintenance technology, for providing maintenance services from a server to a vehicle through a telephone circuit, in order to quickly and accurately eliminate device failures in the vehicle.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-109690 discloses a remote maintenance apparatus and method. In accordance with the disclosed remote maintenance apparatus and method, a vehicle that is suffering from a device failure sends an ID number and data concerning the device failure through a wireless link to a call center, which operates as a server. The call center identifies the vehicle based on the received ID number, and analyzes the device failure data to determine whether the vehicle requires stopgap measures to be performed or not. If the call center judges that the vehicle requires stopgap measures, then the call center delivers the details of such stopgap measures to the vehicle through the wireless link. If the call center judges that the vehicle needs to be moved to a maintenance shop (repair shop) for repairs, then the call center schedules a repair while sending details of the device failure to the repair shop, and delivers various information items, including information concerning the location of the repair shop, to the vehicle through the wireless link.
According to the disclosure of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-109690, as described above, the call center delivers information concerning the details of stopgap measures and various items of information, including information about the location of the repair shop, to the vehicle that suffers from a device failure through the wireless link.
When the call center delivers the above information through wireless links to a plurality of vehicles, even if the vehicles suffer from the same device failure, and the details of the stopgap measures and the location information of the repair shop are represented by the same information, the call center still generates the details concerning the stopgap measures and location information of the repair shop individually for each of the vehicles. As a result, as the call center handles an increased number of vehicles, then the call center is required to handle an increased amount of information, and hence experiences an increased burden in delivering such information to the vehicles.
The repair shop prepares replacement parts that are required to repair the vehicle based on the scheduled repair date and the device failure details, which are sent from the call center. At this time, a vehicle that is suffering from a failure may arrive at the repair shop, based on the location information of the repair shop received from the call center, before the repair shop has prepared the necessary replacement parts. Since the replacement parts have not yet been prepared, the repair shop must request that the occupant (driver) of the vehicle come again to the repair shop when the replacement parts are ready. As a result, the occupant of the vehicle is required to come twice to the repair shop in order to repair the vehicle.